IT #2: 5 ways your college website turns away students (continued)

According to the KDG report, prospective students are not only used to reading short bits of information thanks to social media, but many incoming freshman read at a 7th grade level.

“This means your college website must be at the 7th grade level, especially the sections used to attract prospects and to guide them through the application process. No, we’re not kidding,

1. Reading like the New York Times.

2. Requiring Form Fills.

prospective students are often fatigued by long forms that they must complete in order to get the information they need and will quickly leave the website. “Not only will a live chat feature save students time, it can also save your admissions office time answering questions from prospects and applicants

3. Not Understanding What’s Important.

a delicate balance between static and antiquated, and being too interactive. “Don’t get so caught up in the design that there’s a disconnect between what your institution is and marketing gimmicks. You also don’t want super technical, information-filled pages.”

4. Using Fake Images.

images of students posed for the camera won’t do, either. They want to see students, like them, doing the things students do on campus—with exceptions, of course…Candid images, combined with some documentary-style photos from important events on campus, will go a long way toward creating a website that invites visitors to look deeper.
looked at sites like Airbnb.

5. Using Clichéd Statements about Passé Issues

They may read at a 7th grade level, but that doesn’t mean they can’t recognize a cliché.

boasting about unique accomplishments with current relevance for students in a down-to-earth way, such as mentioning a good acceptance rate or a special program for those with learning disabilities. Positive statistics about campus crime rates, successful career counseling efforts or facts about innovative STEM programs are also good talking points.

Website Optimization: What Does It All Mean?

“SEO” has been explained many different ways. The acronym stands for search engine optimization. To have a search-engine-optimized website, your content must be organized in a way that’s easy for search engines to understand. Following best practices for SEO will allow your site to be properly indexed and will result in a higher organic ranking.

Thematic SEO allows us to categorize content by context. One of our favorite examples is Life of Pi. If you search “movie about a tiger on a boat,” Life of Pi appears in the search engine. Semantic SEO allows us to structure content throughout a site so search engines can understand the purpose of each page rather than just reading keywords.

Here is a link to an image optimization article from the experts at Google.

It’s important to make sure your website makes sense from a navigation and content perspective.

Here how to embed a Google form on your site without using the ugly “Google embed” code. This works great for both polls or signup boxes right in a blog post. Yay, let’s beautify the Internet! Here’s how:

2. Click “View live form”Clicking that button will take you to a page that previews what your form looks like. The url will look something like this: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/234234k3lj4k3j4kl23j43kl/viewform

3. Right-click anywhere and select “View Page Source”

4. In the code, find the “form action” URL, which end on “formResponse.”